The financial situation of Slovenian farmers has worsened in the past year, as food product prices have dropped by an average of 15-20%, Cvetko Zupančič, the president of the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry (KGZS), has said ahead of the protest.

The situation has deteriorated due to food surpluses on the market following the Russian embargo of EU products, unfair pricing practices, and the suspension of the EU's milk quotas system, he said.

While farmers' income has fallen significantly (by 21% for milk and 12% for pork), retail prices of food have remained unchanged over the course of the past year, Zupančič illustrated.

It is unclear how many farmers will gather at the rallies, but Zupančič said the events would be peaceful. Farmers do not want unrest, they want to raise awareness among consumers, state institutions and other players in the food supply chain.

Moreover, farmers want better traceability of food so that consumers are able to buy Slovenian foods without doubting their origin. They also want Slovenia to suspend the import of cheap products and be careful in the process of liberalisation of agricultural markets.

Farmers also want Slovenian producers to be the sole supplier of food to Slovenian public institutions and demand better measures and appropriate legislative changes to help them deal with the aftermath of natural disasters, said KGZS director Branko Ravnik.

The protest enjoys the support of opposition Democrats (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi) and the United Left (ZL), as well as the ruling Modern Centre Party (SMC) and Agriculture, Forestry and Food Minister Dejan Židan.

The protest is far from being the first of its kind in Slovenia. In fact, this will be the tenth time that farmers demand fair prices for the products or fair treatment since the late 1980s.

Today's protest is however not expected to one of the more radical ones - in the past farmers have paralysed border crossings and important roads, or spilled slurry on roads.